1. Field of the Invention
Generally, the present disclosure relates to integrated circuits having metallization systems including metal pillars, and, more particularly, to the techniques for reducing chip-package interactions caused by thermal mismatch between the chip and the package.
2. Description of the Related Art
Semiconductor devices are typically formed on substantially disc-shaped substrates made of any appropriate material. The majority of semiconductor devices including highly complex electronic circuits are currently, and in the foreseeable future will be, manufactured on the basis of silicon, thereby rendering silicon substrates and silicon-containing substrates, such as silicon-on-insulator (SOI) substrates, viable base materials for forming semiconductor devices, such as microprocessors, SRAMs, ASICs (application specific ICs), systems on chip (SoC) and the like. The individual integrated circuits are arranged in an array on the wafer, wherein most of the manufacturing steps, which may involve several hundred and more individual process steps in sophisticated integrated circuits, are performed simultaneously for all chip areas on the substrate, except for photolithography processes, metrology processes and packaging of the individual devices after dicing the substrate. Thus, economical constraints drive semiconductor manufacturers to steadily increase the substrate dimensions, thereby also increasing the area available for producing actual semiconductor devices and thus increasing production yield.
In addition to increasing the substrate area, it is also important to optimize the utilization of the substrate area for a given substrate size so as to actually use as much substrate area as possible for semiconductor devices and/or test structures that may be used for process control. In an attempt to maximize the useful surface area for a given substrate size, the feature sizes of circuit elements are steadily scaled down. Due to this ongoing demand for shrinking the feature sizes of highly sophisticated semiconductor devices, copper, in combination with a low-k dielectric material, has become a frequently used alternative in the formation of so-called interconnect structures comprising metal line layers and intermediate via layers that include metal lines as intra-layer connections and vias as inter-layer connections, which commonly connect individual circuit elements to provide the required functionality of the integrated circuit. Typically, a plurality of metal line layers and via layers stacked on top of each other is necessary to realize the connections between all internal circuit elements and I/O (input/output), power and ground pads of the circuit design under consideration.
For extremely scaled integrated circuits, the signal propagation delay is no longer limited by the circuit elements, such as field effect transistors and the like, but is limited, owing to the increased density of circuit elements requiring an even more increased number of electrical connections, by the close proximity of the metal lines, since the line-to-line capacitance is increased in combination with a reduced conductivity of the lines due to a reduced cross-sectional area. For this reason, traditional dielectrics, such as silicon dioxide (k>4) and silicon nitride (k>7), are replaced by dielectric materials having a lower permittivity, which are, therefore, also referred to as low-k dielectrics having a relative permittivity of 3 or less. However, the density and mechanical stability or strength of the low-k materials may be significantly less compared to the well-approved dielectrics silicon dioxide and silicon nitride. As a consequence, during the formation of the metallization system and any subsequent manufacturing processes of integrated circuits, production yield may depend on the mechanical characteristics of sensitive dielectric materials, such as low-k dielectric layers, and their adhesion to other materials.
In addition to the problems of reduced mechanical stabilities of advanced dielectric materials having a dielectric constant of 3.0 and significantly less, device reliability may be affected by these materials during operation of sophisticated semiconductor devices, due to an interaction between the chip and the package caused by a thermal mismatch of the corresponding thermal expansion of the different materials. For instance, in the fabrication of complex integrated circuits, increasingly, a contact technology may be used in connecting the package carrier to the chip, which is known as flip chip packaging technique. Contrary to the well-established wire bonding techniques in which appropriate contact pads may be positioned at the periphery of the very last metal layer of the chip that may be connected to corresponding terminals of the package by a wire, in the flip chip technology, a respective bump structure may be formed on the last metallization layer, for instance comprised of a solder material, which may be brought into contact with respective contact pads of the package. Thus, after reflowing the bump material, a reliable electrical and mechanical connection may be established between the last metallization layer and the contact pads of the package carrier. In this manner, a very large number of electrical connections may be provided across the entire chip area of the last metallization layer with reduced contact resistance and parasitic capacitance, thereby providing the IO (input/output) capabilities, which may be required for complex integrated circuits, such as CPUs, storage memories and the like. During the corresponding process sequence for connecting the bump structure with a package carrier, a certain degree of pressure and/or heat may be applied to the composite device to establish a reliable connection between each of the bumps formed on the chip and the bumps or pads that may be provided on the package substrate. The thermally or mechanically induced stress may, however, also act on the lower lying metallization layers, which may typically include low-k dielectrics or even ultra low-k (ULK) dielectric materials, thereby significantly increasing the probability of creating defects by delamination of these sensitive materials due to reduced mechanical stability and adhesion to other materials.
Moreover, during operation of the finished semiconductor device attached to a corresponding package substrate, significant mechanical stress may occur due to a significant mismatch in the thermal expansion behavior of the silicon-based semiconductor chip and the package substrate, since, in volume production of sophisticated integrated circuits, economic constraints typically require the usage of specified substrate materials for the package, such as organic materials, which typically may exhibit a different thermal conductivity and a different coefficient of thermal expansion compared to the silicon chip.
In recent developments, the thermal and electrical performance of a “bump structure” is increased by providing copper pillars instead of or in addition to solder bumps or balls, thereby reducing the required floor space for individual contact elements and also enhancing thermal and electrical conductivity due to the superior characteristics of copper compared to typically used solder material. These copper pillars may, however, contribute to an even more severe interaction between the package and the metallization system of the chip, since, typically, the copper pillars are significantly less deformable compared to the bump structures, which may be advantageous in view of electrical and thermal behavior, which, however, may result in even increased mechanical stress components in a locally very restricted manner, as will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 1a-1b. 
FIG. 1a schematically illustrates a cross-sectional view of an integrated circuit 150 comprising a semiconductor die or chip 100 connected to a package substrate 180 that is substantially comprised of an organic material, such as appropriate polymer materials and the like, wherein the connection between the chip 100 and the package substrate 180 may be accomplished by means of a pillar structure 170. The semiconductor chip 100 may typically comprise a substrate 101, for instance a silicon substrate or an SOI substrate, depending on the overall configuration of the circuit layout and the performance of the integrated circuit 150. Moreover, a silicon-based semiconductor layer 102 may typically be provided “above” the substrate 101, wherein the semiconductor layer 102 may comprise a very large number of circuit elements, such as transistors, capacitors, resistors and the like, as are required for the desired functional behavior of the integrated circuit 150. As previously discussed, the ongoing shrinkage of critical dimensions of circuit elements may result in critical dimensions of transistors on the order of magnitude of 50 nm and significantly less in presently available sophisticated semiconductor devices produced by volume production techniques. The semiconductor chip 100 comprises a metallization system 110, which, in advanced devices, includes a plurality of metallization layers, i.e., of device levels, in which metal lines and vias are embedded in an appropriate dielectric material. As discussed above, at least a portion of the corresponding dielectric materials used in the various metallization layers is usually comprised of materials of reduced mechanical stability in order to reduce the parasitic capacitance of adjacent metal lines.
As previously explained, the pillar structure 170 may be provided as a part of the metallization system 110, wherein the corresponding copper pillars are formed in the very last metallization layer of the system 110. On the other hand, the package substrate 180 comprises appropriately positioned and dimensioned contact pads (not shown) which may be brought into contact with corresponding pillars or any solder material formed thereon, in order to establish respective mechanical and electrical connections upon application of heat and/or mechanical pressure. Furthermore, the package substrate 180 usually comprises appropriate conductive lines in order to connect the upper pillar portions of the pillar structure 170 with corresponding terminals, which then establish an electrical interface to other peripheral components, such as a printed wiring board and the like. For convenience, any such conductive lines are not shown.
During operation of the integrated circuit 150, heat is generated within the semiconductor chip 100, for instance caused by the circuit elements formed in and above the semiconductor layer 102. This waste heat is dissipated, for instance, by the metallization system 110 and the pillar structure 170 in a highly efficient manner and/or via the substrate 101, depending on the overall thermal conductivity of the substrate 101. For example, the heat dissipation capability of SOI substrates is significantly less compared to pure silicon substrates due to the reduced thermal conductivity of the buried insulating oxide layer, which separates the semiconductor layer 102 from the remaining substrate material. Thus, a major heat dissipation path is provided by the pillar structure 170 and the package substrate 180. Consequently, a moderately high average temperature is created in the semiconductor chip 100 and also in the package substrate 180 wherein, as previously discussed, a mismatch in the coefficient of thermal expansion between these two components may cause a significant mechanical stress. As is, for instance, indicated by arrows 103 and 183, the package substrate 180 may have an increased thermal expansion compared to the semiconductor chip 100, wherein a corresponding mismatch, therefore, results in a significant degree of thermal stress, in particular at the “interface” between the semiconductor chip 100 and the package substrate 180, that is, in particular, the pillar structure 170 and the metallization system 110 may experience significant shear forces caused by the thermal mismatch during the operation of the integrated circuit 150. Due to the reduced mechanical stability and the reduced adhesion of sophisticated dielectric materials, corresponding defects may occur, which may affect the overall reliability of the integrated circuit 150. In particular, the stiffness of the individual pillars of the pillar structure 170 may result in locally high shear forces, which are transferred into the metallization system, however, in a locally very restricted area, resulting in delamination defects and the like.
FIG. 1b schematically illustrates a portion of the integrated circuit 150 in order to illustrate the situation during the occurrence of a significant thermal mismatch between the package substrate 180 and the semiconductor chip 100. As illustrated, a portion of the metallization system 110 may be illustrated in which a last metallization layer 140 may comprise a dielectric material 142, in which is embedded a contact pad 141, which may comprise copper material in sophisticated applications. Furthermore a passivation layer 160, which may also be referred to as a final passivation layer, is provided on the last metallization layer 140 and exposes a portion of the contact pad 141. Moreover, a metal pillar 171, such as a copper pillar, may extend from the final passivation layer 160 to the package substrate 180, i.e., a corresponding contact pad 181 formed therein. Moreover, typically, a solder material 173 may be formed on the metal pillar 171 and may connect to the contact pad 181. Moreover, as illustrated by the dashed lines, usually, the opening formed in the final passivation layer 160 may be less than a width 171W of the metal pillar 171, thereby forming a contact region 172 that connects the metal pillar 171 with the contact pad 141. Consequently, during operation, the shear forces 183, 103 may result in a certain torque, in particular generated at corresponding portions 165, at which the bottom of the metal pillar 171 is in contact with the final passivation layer 160. Consequently, in this area, a maximum mechanical stress may be exerted in a locally selective manner to the metallization system 110, thereby forcing corresponding defects that may primarily originate from the areas 165.
Consequently, although advanced contact regimes between a chip and a package substrate based on copper pillars may provide significant advantages with respect to heat dissipation capabilities and electrical conductivity at a reduced required floor space, thereby enhancing density of contact elements and/or dummy elements for heat dissipation, the increased mechanical stress created in the metallization system 110 may not be compatible with the reliability requirements of sophisticated semiconductor devices. For this reason, frequently, the height of the copper pillars is reduced which, however, may be associated with a corresponding reduction of the spacing between the package substrate and the chip, which in turn may cause non-reliable filling in of any underfill material. Thus, corresponding voids in the underfill material may also contribute to a high degree of non-reliability, for instance caused by non-uniformities in heat conductivity and the like. In other conventional approaches, the metallization systems may be formed on the basis of less sensitive low-k dielectric materials or ultra low-k materials in order to enhance the mechanical stability of the metallization system, which, however, is associated with a significant reduction in electrical performance due to increased parasitic capacitances, resulting in an increased signal propagation delay.
The present disclosure is directed to various methods and devices that may avoid, or at least reduce, the effects of one or more of the problems identified above.